>> we thank you for writing it. good night from new york. neil: a week after hurricane sandy and after this nor'easter, oaks and staten island, folks across much of the northeast. the scores of folks are beginning to think after all of this and reports tonight, some folks in brooklyn or beyond cannot celebrate thanksgiving at home because they will likely not have power back by thanksgiving. and possibly holidays beyond. imagine their delight when they hear this.

>> a particular thanks to our partners in the federal government. fema has been fantastic. and also responsive. >> there was criticism of the mountbatten hurricane katrina days and now we hear good things about the matter. neil: you can say we are on top of something. but generally, it implies you're telling the truth. so if you're going to make a speech to say things are good, well, things better be good. because otherwise, you are lying. doesn't that ring true for this staten island resident who joins us on the phone. marianne, how are things going? >> things are not any better,

neil. still the same in staten island. we were abandoned yesterday. with that nor'easter came in, fema closes their doors due to weather conditions. over a week since the storm. neil: what is the relief center supposed to do? >> are you talking about fema? neil: the fema center. >> it gives people in staten island to go there and talk to representatives and people. there is a sign on the door that says that fema is close to the weatherford really? that's what they're telling people? these are people that don't have any homes, electricity or lights and no place to go. they are put out of their

houses. and then they go to a fema center and they are closed due to the weather. it's a disgrace and i think that fema slacked off yesterday and today. i think that people all over the world deserve better than that. neil: if fema has been affected by the weather, and they are supposed to be the weather resource center that whether the weather, that is an unending the mandate issued a statement today and i want to get your thoughts on it. global disaster relief centers were supposed to ensure the disaster relief centers during the nor'easter. you can register by calling --

1-800-621-fema. >> even though the census close and people don't have power or the phones, not on people's doors. they are there. go visit people in the street. they are there. neil: a few days ago janet napolitano said -- she promised more boots on the ground. do you see more boots on the ground? were they doing if they are there? >> i don't see anything on the ground to be honest with you. i see people reaching out looking for help. people that have questions. people say we are set up over here and there, but you don't have gas to get there. the lines for gas are outrageous. you don't want to waste any resource that you had. so we need people to come to the door, knock on the door.

they put different colors on different houses. how can we help you, did you register, is there anything we can do for you. this nor'easter yesterday crimper crippled us more than ever because we were just getting going. yesterday everyone disappeared for the only thing you saw was the sanitation workers and private dump trucks and that was it. there was no miracle to be found. there was no fema to be found. neil: that's amazing. >> i'm talking not just for myself. not everyone has the opportunity to talk to you. i can actually talk to everybody. this is terrible and it's getting worse. it's not getting better. neil: you said it very well, marianne. thank you very much.

again, not to disparage the government officials or fema, it is due to spare some of their arrogance. for those to say they are on top of that when in fact they are not. it is not that we expect government agencies like this. we don't. don't brag that you are then. that's the problem. because he really began to upset these people. what do you think? >> had i been there, i would be very disappointed to hear what was going on in staten island. she probably represents a lot of residents as well out of long island and new jersey. i did not understand federal

emergency management agency. what part of emergency do they not understand themselves. if i were the president of the united states, i would have lit a fire under someone's granny right now. to get those people in the disaster relief centers open to help those people. keep in mind that that is not the primary mission of fema. they are not in charge. this has not been nationalized. the responsibility falls as lead entity, the state, governor andrew coumo, governor chris christie, the others who have been impacted for that. i am embarrassed as a former fema director to watch this inactivity on. neil: when you say hasn't been nationalized and what does it mean? >> that means the federal government is in charge.

i don't know the process it can be handled at the state level. fema's responsibility is to support the townships and counties and local cities and the governor's emergency operations team to supplying complete all the missions that they cannot do themselves. that is their number one role. my complaint all through the years is where is fema? raising expectations that fema will come in and solve everyone's woes. that is not the purpose of fema. the one you hit it on the head there, joe, in retrospect, the president was getting very high marks for addressing things. in retrospect, we were covering this before the election.

it still wasn't going so dandy, but leaving that aside, i'm beginning to wonder the simple wisdom of those who are in the middle of the power blackout in their cellphones cell phones are down and those people patting themselves on the backs texting and e-mailing people what to do. >> when you don't have power in your out of phone service -- well, you might try something else. because that's not working. >> we are in the middle of the response phase of this disaster. not discounting the nor'easter became the return hurricane sandy. the recovery part has not even begun. gas lines are still not operational. we pointed out earlier today.

shower. we hear of over 115 deaths created by the storm. and also its aftermath. people are still hurting. we are still in the response phase. recovery is the removal and the cleaning up of debris and getting rid of the water first. people need to be realistic in our government agencies from the local to the top, they need to be there and show them wave the flag and connect with each one of their neighbors and start delivering the service that the people need. neil: joe, you are very right. >> you back, take your. neil: there a lot of downed trees and a lot of folks without power. it's happening and it's real. i'm not necessarily comparing it

to hurricane katrina. all i am comparing is the sense of arrogance and the dismissive approach to folks are patting themselves on the back from a lot of folks are supposed to provide help at doing something. instead of kicking them. we will have one that disconnect between leaders. partiiularly when it comes another crisis in washington. so, what happens if i'm in an accident and need to get my car fixed? progressive makes it easy, because give you choices.

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for special graphics. we do not exhausted all on one thing. that sums up what is going on here. mcdonald's is down for the count. the first back to back report. a big drop off today. the biggest two-day drop off. i'm thinking a global slowdown and no one in washington is very any of these issues. >> bad and getting worse. i do know a lot of economists are saying people are snapping

up treasuries left and right. 1.5%. neil: that is a safe place to park and john layfield, when i look at that and obviously what is collective cynicism about washington, making a deal on this end of the year nightmare that we have facing us, i can well understand him doing that. >> yes, i think people believe that as well. we just had $2 billion being spent from a political campaign. the exact same players that were spent doing this. based upon the number of bills they pass. people say i don't think anything is going to get done. mcdonald's earnings is a very

interesting. they are upgrading their stores and the quality of their food. it shows that americans are truly hurting out there. neil: what worries me in watching this case is that this world doesn't exist. it is as if there is no problem. helicopters and video cameras that can show you that we have something else called math. books that show what happens when you do not address extensions when all of this spending and tax rates go kabul yet the same time.

>> the economy is not getting better. everyone is talking about the economy in the head it will take because of the storm in the northeast. getting back to the map, the real killers making 40% of the revenue. wal-mart backing up their sales. on thanksgiving and when you hear these things and we talk about 1% growth, it just feels like that. it is a matter of a couple of quarters -- i believe it will get into the textbook of negative growth. neil: do you think they will have a deal by the end of the the year? >> i think it is slightly lesson of 50/50 chance. i think it is 50/50 or worse. that is what the market is showing right now.

>> i think the market is sending a message and i think it is only a matter of -- when obama's first term began in 2008, we have four years of gridlock. i think there was a message here. i want to be optimistic that they will get a deal. neil: if the market is doing this, they will be forced to. we will see. we do want to keep you aware of it. we will watch it. there is that. we do have the ability to convey things to you and the simple urgency of what happens when you don't do this and ignore the clear warning signs to this. when you do it on domestic policy is one thing. as ronald reagan used to say, when you do it in all your the former secretary of state, george shultz.

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neil: we are just getting news that iran fired on a u.s. drone and it happened just a week ago. we are just finding out about it today. the huffington post -- we thought everything was going fine before the election. the hurricane sandy issue and then we thought, well, maybe not. a little bit of surprise in this. we have ronald reagan's former secretary of state. one of the most impressive resumes of all time.

secretary, it is good to have you. what do you make of this? more is coming to light. i just think more and more will start coming out. >> i think it illustrates how we should shift our gears a little bit in the way we react to what iran is doing. this is a provocative action by iran. here is an example of what we did in the reagan years. iran was starting to fool around with kuwaiti shipping. so we reflect the shift to american flags so we could protect them. the president said the last thing iran would do was cause trouble in the persian gulf. but the navy was taking pictures

of them doing it. we sink the ship, we took the sailors and we said [inaudible] that was a good and clear message. neil: john boehner, the speaker was talking about the fiscal cliff and i want to ask you a question about this. this is what john boehner had to say. >> former secretary george shultz put it at the 1986 reform, the time has come again to revamp the tax code. if we do, there will be a response and revenue will come in. neil: you are right about that. secretary. the one thing is if you think about it, the speaker has offered a concession to consider revenues we have not heard

anything back from the democratic counterparts. does that trouble you? there are 53 days before this great fiscal cliff. >> it's just not conceivable that the government can avoid this fiscal cliff. so here is what should be done, i think. we should give people who have the power to decide something, that is people who can negotiate and who can carry the results of their agreement. and sit down and start talking to each other and listen to each other. the way to go about it, i think, is to start by saying, what are our long-term objectives. then, you try to put in place the kind of measures that deal with the immediate problem, but also compatible with a long-term problem. obviously, what we want is an

economy with risk expansion without inflation. that's where we want to go. everybody would say that. as a matter of fact, that is the way you produce tax revenues. expansion. so we have to say to ourselves, what gets us there? you mentioned the 1986 tax act. in many respects it was put forward by president reagan. it was scored, as i remember, by the staff of the joint committee at the time. everybody accepted the scoring. in the end, it was introduced in the house by a kephart was the house democratic leader. it passed the senate 97 to 97 to three. so as i recall, somebody asked

ronald reagan if it upset him that two democrats introduced as legislation this legislation and do you know what he said? neil: no, i do not. >> he said it past him. [laughter] >> that is called governance. neil: so it doesn't have to be your way or the highway as he often said to you as well. if i can get 80% of the proverbial vote -- but we don't have that mentality in washington. maybe things will change, but we shall see. >> i don't know. everyone is saying that. i have been away a long time. congress and senators on both sides and they are very capable and sensible. neil: absolutely. >> vacancy the problem as well as anybody else. neil: i the. neil: i wish we had more time, sir. seeing something and doing something -- willing to

negotiate and get something -- i don't know. but we will watch. george shultz, it is an honor as always. when we come back, many on wall street are fearing the backlash. but what about a personal backlash? he spent a ton of money. are they thinking this is vendetta time? that the president is going to target them? we will be back after this.

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anthere's so much more to see. so we found a plan that can travel with us. anywhere in the country. [ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, organization servin the needs of people 50 and over for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. your free decision guide. call now to request and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. neil: you know, it can be tough to make money. but these guys are all of their

pedigree degrees and all that -- they are human beings and they were hurt during the obama years. we were selfish and greedy. so they went back and said no, you didn't -- but they got mad at the guy. they started raising a lot of money to defeat the guy. it didn't work because the guy got reelected. tom is a former romney superdelegate. raise a lot of money for republicans in general. how are you feeling right now? >> i'm okay. obviously, a lot of people are disappointed with the outcome of the election. as everyone says, there are great opportunities. great opportunity now is regulation. that is where the financial services area are going to focus on. the thing about only 50% -- now

we have to look forward. he won the election fair and square. [talking over each other] [talking over each other] neil: now you might be right. >> we put these crazy things together that look the economy, as a matter of fact, i just tired the chief officer to come on board with cheap regulations

you know, that is the time that we are in right now. we have to be very careful. neil: i know the president and his people very well. i think he is a vindictive person. when you get to be that powerful, it should be in your dna to be vindictive. he says he is not. but i expect them to be childish. but i don't expect my president to be. but he is. he got reelected, it is what it is. but you know, everything i've said about him, he repeats stuff back to people. i say this as we shall flee to make he will not forget how wall street went after him.

he will not lift a finger for you. what do you think of that? >> glossary raise a lot of money for obama. he demonize wall street. >> he sees a win-win? >> correct. why would anyone else think that he would change? neil: so whatever you did would not have changed things? remapped that is my we've. neil: do you see any hint of a growth policy? >> i do believe based on what has happened, he got elected now. economies getting better. let's move it forward. let's do these policies. if they can cooperate, both republicans and democrats and focus on the overall economy to get people back to work, you never know what can happen. i am an optimist. neil: you think he can be a bigger person than he is

perceived to be? >> i'm always a believer that people can change the. neil: all right, we will see what happens. >> our hearts and prayers lots of people affected. when we come back, wal-mart letting shoppers come in on thanksgiving night. you have to really be worried about this economy now. forget about shopping until you drop. how about you just draw. follow the wings.

4g lte is the fastest. so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart ? don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i ve a different chart. going that way, does that make a difference ? look at verizon. it's so much more than the other ones. so what if we just changed e format altogether ? ist that the exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. still sticking with verizon. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined.

wal-mart is open on thanksgiving at ap and so that you can shot. workers there are threatening to strike. who wants to work on thanksgiving, who wants to shop on thanksgiving. it is quite an ideal thing to do. but i digress. >> some people might want to escape their families so they want to shot. neil: it is the workers that i feel for.

i don't like having to work weekends. so why should i feel that these guys are being treated unfairly, that relate to them? i think they treat their employees unfairly in general. they pay their employees almost nothing. $8.81 an hour. 10% on public assistance, and now they have to work on thanksgiving. i just wish this employer had better business practices, because they set the tone for employment, not just in the united states. >> do they share that view with others keep their view of about the holidays? >> humor has been doing this for 21 years. target opens at 10:00 p.m. or midnight the one why wal-mart? you specifically seem to hate

wal-mart. leaving aside the portal or prescription of prescription drugs and all the good stuff it does an inexpensive stuff -- leaving aside we have yet to go inside and see a wal-mart cashier or a boy or girl chained to the register or the door. >> taxpayers actually pay those prices. neil: if they are not full-time workers in the on public assistance -- last time i checked, 47% -- the favorite mitt romney mind -- get something from the government. so what is regularly horrible here? >> well, because wal-mart is worse than other companies and they set the tone for employment practices and they set the tone for when they extend holiday hours. for employees.

neil: your problem is not working on the holidays, it's with wal-mart? >> no, it's very much with wal-mart. making employees work on a holiday. >> it just shows how far we have gone on this. neil: professor, very good having you. good to see you remapped good to see you as well be one we keep talking about the fiscal cliff. but let me remind you that we are 53 days away of what could be a recession if we don't. tax rates and spending cuts that are all part of the sequestration deal. the exact same second of the exact same day if they don't do something. how do you handle this? robert bennett, with his

bipartisan approach coming up next.

neil: all right, 53 days until automatic sequestration cuts kicked in. we do not address that, you have heard all of these estimates, and that is all they are. but they could be rosier if we slice three quarters of a percentage point off of the gdp. that could be a hit that turns a recovery into a recession very quickly. no sign that the two sides are willing to even hint of an agreement or even a talking point.

revenues could be on the table. so far, universal support among republicans, reining in entitlements, basic fixed costs and government spending. again, they be they figure they have 53 days to do that. but i can be very dangerous. we have two guests with us. both of these gentlemen have a way of dealing with each other without throwing things at each other. a time when active gentlemen each gave and took. they are not doing either right now the mapquest don't give up on the lame-duck session.

certainly not next year. i agree with your analysis that they have to work together. we have to compromise or we face calamity. >> well, i was encouraged by the tone yesterday of what the speaker said. i would like to see our democratic friends make it clear that if revenues are included in some meaningful fashion, that they will also put entitlements in the package is. >> they have an offer that you. >> no, they have not. >> i would like to see the president take the lead on that. they don't have to cut entitlements, they have to ban the trajectory. neil: we are talking about closing loopholes and tax credits. the tax hike and others have

looked -- what do you think that after the election, who prevails? >> election has one definite advantages. a lot of people will position on the assumption that if i take this position, it will affect the election. that will benefit me or hurt the other guy. it can't help or hurt you or the other guy from now on. you are faced with the responsibility of governing. in this atmosphere where there is nothing political to gain by the kind of posturing that we saw prior to the election, it is pretty good.

i don't understand the house very much because i've never served there. but i can say with in the senate, both harry reid and mitch mcconnell are friends of mine. both are dedicated to the institution, and both are very good dealmakers. neil: you just read my next point. he has just been reelected. of course. >> the president has to make the fiscal cliff and the long-term sustainability of our fiscal policy is the number one priority. i don't know, but it has to be. because of it's not, it's going to go in and for the next four years.

>> i think it would be playing russian roulette so you can improve your leverage. neil: everything explodes. >> i believe he will negotiate in good faith -- he did so about a year ago. the president, i would have hoped, would have endorsed the simpson-bowles proposal. what i would like to see him be gone in the lame-duck session, and i hope his republican friends will join is having a default position. they are not going to solve the problems soon. >> but it will be an agreements between the two parties? >> it is not a calamity if they don't agree. [talking over each other] [talking over each other] neil: senator bennet, what you

an extension for six months or so. but they are is no -- it's like they're going to come up with something constructive for next year. these guys are going to bluster their way through another charade. >> there is another trigger point out there. unlike the one we face now, it is not easily postponed, at least it wasn't last time. that is the time when we hit the debt ceiling. march, april, maybe something a little earlier. these conversations have to take place with the understanding there is another conversation will take place. in the president's defense, the one we have this conversation and we had a year it a year ago, he put entitlements on the table at least in terms of the

comment. that is the first time in my life that i have ever heard a democratic president even mention the word entitlement other than to say we must protect -- neil: you are right about that. really quickly, -- [inaudible] senator, both sides have to be willing to go off their base a little bit. do you think they are? >> i think they have to. neil: about when? midnight? >> is going to look bad before it looks great. but they will find a solution. one thing would be everyone is entitled to their own opinion. but not their own facts. getting them together -- talk about the facts. they ought to be able to agree

on the facts. neil: senator bennet, do you think that these guys can get past the acrimony? >> yeah, i am an optimist and i think they probably can. i think it did have the effect, the election there, of sobering both sides. michele obama nearly lost and allen west did. [talking over each other] neil: you're right., for re move theals. ball, that will do. thank you very much, good night. our clients, so they can take the steps to help grow, preserve, and pass along their wealth.

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